New York Trip: Food and Drink Review

Going into this trip, I knew we’d eat delicious food, but it beat our expectations!  I was impressed with the food and drinks everywhere we ate, and we had only a couple times of slow service.  I’d love to go back and repeat some of the places, as well as explore new ones.  To read the details of how we spent our time on this trip, see my post New York Trip: Things to Do. 

Also, be warned, this is a lot of details about food.  A lot.  Mainly for my memory and cooking inspiration.  I’m sorry in advance if it makes you hungry!!

If you saw my blog yesterday, you know I discussed simple ways to detox.  This is why…

We ate breakfast in our hotel two of the mornings, and ate out the rest of the time.  The food was much nicer than the typical store-bought carbs at most hotels, so we stuck with the (free, ahem!) hotel breakfast.

The first day we explored Chelsea Market, the home of a variety of food vendors.  We were impressed by The Lobster Place seafood market inside – almost any kind of fresh fish you could think of, as well as an oyster and sushi bar.

• Todd: 2 kinds of oysters, raw, with traditional toppings.

After that we went to The Spotted Pig, a British/Italian gastropob in the West Village, for lunch.  I had read many recommendations about it, and we ended up loving the food!  We had to wait a while for our food, but the atmosphere and our meals were fresh and outstanding!  I ordered an apple salad and it was one of the best salads I’ve ever eaten!  I hope to recreate a version of it soon – perfect Fall flavors.

• Todd:
  • Marinated Olives
  • Cuban Sandwich and Arugula Salad
• Lindsay: Apple Salad (3 kinds of apples, aged cheddar, arugula, parsley, walnuts, dijon dressing)

We ate an early dinner that night before seeing Wicked.  We went to Serafina, which is an Italian restaurant with several locations in Manhattan.  The gluten free pasta option was a great surprise!  I wasn’t a fan of the plating, but that’s not a big deal!

• Lindsay: Gluten Free Spaghetti with Zucchini, Basil, Butter and Aged Parmesan
• Todd: Linguine with Clams, Garlic, Olive Oil and Fresh Tomatoes

Drinks were available before the show and during intermission.  We got a drink there, which came in a Wicked tumbler (awesome ;)).  The drinks were overpriced, but that is to be expected at any show or sporting event.

On Friday, after exploring Wall Street and touring the 9/11 Museum and Memorial, we went to Soho to eat at The Grey Dog.  This was recommended by two friends, and blogs I had read!  The guys working there were very friendly, and our meals were great.  It was a more casual and inexpensive lunch (by New York standards).

• Lindsay: Cobb Salad
• Todd: Grey Dog Club Sandwich

That afternoon, on the way back to the hotel, we went to Le Pain Quotidien near Central Park for some caffeine.  The drinks were huge!  The service wasn’t amazing, but the drinks, views, and people watching, plus a more relaxing atmosphere, made it worth the trip.

• Lindsay: Almond Milk Cafe au Lait
• Todd: Mocha

We walked from our hotel and through Central Park that afternoon.  We made a detour to La Duree for some business research for me.  Both of us had a couple bites of 3 different flavors.  The coconut was absolutely my favorite, and I’m now determined to master this flavor at home.  Our main takeaway from taste-testing these was that the flavors are very intense.  We’ve been to La Duree in Paris with my friend Casey, but it was before I had started baking macarons.  I’m happy we went, because this gives me ideas of how to improve my macarons!

• Coconut
• Raspberry
• Peruvian Chocolate

For drinks on Friday we went to the rooftop bar at the Gansevoort hotel in the Meatpacking district.  As I mentioned in my previous NYC post, the views were ridiculous!  It wasn’t too cold, so we sat outside with our cocktails.  Perfect pre-dinner drink setting!  I know it turns into more of a club late at night, but it was still pretty low-key around 8 when we were there.  We walked from there to dinner.

Dinner that night was our favorite!!  A guy that works at one of the hospitals where Todd works recommended The Spice Market, even going so far as to make the reservations for us!  He was that enthusiastic about us trying it, so we happily complied.  We were not disappointed with this Asian-inspired restaurant!  It ended up that the reservations were mixed up, so we had to wait for an hour, but we sat at the bar and sampled two cocktails.  Dinner is served family style, rather than by individual dish.  These plates are packed with flavor.  Thinking about this food makes my mouth water.  So.Dang.Good. The pictures did not turn out well because the restaurant was so dark, so you’ll just have to trust me!

• Cocktails:
  • Smoke & Fire
  • Ginger Margarita
• Food:
  • Salmon Tartare with Soy Ginger Dressing, Radish & Avocado
  • Steamed Baby Bok Choi with Scallions and Ginger
  • Lanzhou Ramen with Crab Meat, Lobster, and Shitake Mushroom Sauce
  • Nasi Goreg (like fried rice) with Spicy Short Rib and Lime

On Saturday we grabbed some fruit and coffee from the hotel, then headed out shopping.  For lunch we decided to do something much healthier, given our meals the day before!  We tried Chop’t, a salad chain in NYC and some other cities around the country.  Right up my alley!

• Todd: Kebab Cobb (grilled chicken, feta, red onion, peppers, pita chips, romaine, tzatziki)
• Lindsay: Vegetarian Powerhouse (broccoli, edamame, carrots, sunflower seeds, craisins, walnuts, apples, spinach, romaine, balsamic vinaigrette + quinoa)

We attempted to go to Serendipity 3 that afternoon for a frozen hot chocolate, but the wait was very long, so we passed.  Instead we grabbed some Starbucks while we were shopping.

For dinner that night we headed back to Chelsea Market to try Los Tacos No. 1– my goodness gracious, SO delicious!  This was a more casual dinner than even our dinners at home.  You order your taco or quesadilla by filling (pork, chicken, beef, cactus), then pick corn or flour tortillas, add one of the homemade salsas and a squeeze of lime, and basically eat standing up at the counter.  It takes about 2 minutes to get your tacos, even with a line.  The guacamole is a must, and the corn tortillas were from scratch and the best I’ve ever had, by far.  The meat and ingredients to some of the salsa are cooked on an open grill, and you stand looking into the kitchen.  Very authentic, and we liked it so much that we even went back for one more taco!

• Todd: Adobado (pork) Quesadilla; Pollo Asado (chicken) Taco; Adobado Taco
• Lindsay: Pollo Asado Taco; Guacamole and Chips

This is Todd’s Adobado Quesadilla 

We needed something sweet after that, so we got some ice cream from another vendor in Chelsea Market, Ronnybrook Dairy.  We shared two flavors, and both were great.  The Butter Rum was pretty outstanding, though.

• Butter Rum
• Coconut with Dark Chocolate Covered Almonds

It’s a wonder we didn’t gain 20 pounds each on this trip!!

The last stop was to a bar underneath Chelsea Market, The Tippler.  The walls are all exposed brick, and though the bar is big with plenty of places to sit, it feels warm.  And it doesn’t feel too intimidating or unwelcoming.  We had read a lot about how some bars are very selective with who they allow in, and I just did not want to deal with that!  The drinks here were really great as well, but I always feel silly ordering something with a name like these:

• Todd: All-Nighter (whiskey, cacao, blackberry, cointreau, lemon)
• Lindsay: Booty Collins (vodka, green tea, passionfruit, lemon cayenne) – I loved how tart this drink was.

There you have it!  Our indulgent, yet so-tasty-it-was-worth-every-calorie weekend in New York.

Have a great Tuesday!